Among the games on the Patriots' 2025 schedule is an Oct. 19 trip to Nashville to face No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans.
Among the games on the Patriots' 2025 schedule is an Oct. 19 trip to Nashville to face No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans.George Walker IV/Associated Press
The big takeaway from Wednesday’s NFL schedule release is that the league still isn’t quite buying the hype with the Mike Vrabel-led Patriots.
Of the Patriots’ 17 games in 2025, only three will be seen by a national audience — a Sunday night game at Buffalo, a Thursday night game vs. the Jets, and a Monday night game against the Giants. It’s a bump from just one last year, but like in 2024, the Patriots again will be buried on regional television. They have 12 games that start at 1 p.m., and a 4:25 p.m. game at New Orleans that certainly won’t be a national broadcast (Week 18 is not set until late in the season). Even the Vrabel Revenge Game at Tennessee will be a 1 p.m. regional kickoff.
But the Patriots should send the league office a thank you letter for their 2025 schedule, which was released Wednesday. They have an eminently navigable slate of games that should help the franchise get back into playoff contention after consecutive 4-13 seasons.
Here are all the ways the schedule works in the Patriots’ favor, plus a few other takeaways:
▪ The anonymity of playing on Sunday at 1 p.m. most weeks should suit the Patriots well. The biggest surprise teams the last few years — the Texans in 2023 and Commanders and Vikings in 2024 — were mostly buried on regional TV, as well. While all the focus will be on the Bills, Chiefs, Eagles, and Cowboys, the Patriots can quietly go about their business and build a new foundation under Vrabel.
▪ The beginning stretch looks relatively tame. The Patriots could easily be 2-2 or 3-1 after opening vs. the Raiders, at Dolphins, vs. Steelers, and vs. Panthers.
For Immediate Release pic.twitter.com/bcxYRZE2da
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) May 15, 2025
October doesn’t look too difficult: at Bills, at Saints, at Titans, vs. Browns. That three-game road trip won’t be easy, but the Bills are the only opponent that looks like a sure-fire loss.
And November doesn’t look daunting, either: vs. Falcons, at Bucs, vs. Jets, at Bengals, vs. Giants (Dec. 1). The Patriots could easily be around 7-6 or 6-7 heading into their Week 14 bye, in position to make a run at a wild-card spot.
▪ The rest differential works in the Patriots’ favor. They play only one team coming off a bye (at the Bucs in Week 10), and only one other team with long rest — the Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 13, in which the Patriots and Giants will both have eight days of rest.
The Patriots play just one game on short rest — a Thursday night game vs. the Jets in Week 11, in which the Jets will also be on short rest.
And the Patriots play three games with long rest — 10 days to prepare for their Week 12 game at Cincinnati, eight days to prepare for their Week 13 game vs. the Giants, and 13 days to prepare for their Week 15 game vs. the Bills.
▪ The Patriots play only five games against 2024 playoff teams: vs. Steelers, at Bills, vs. Bucs, vs. Bills, at Ravens. The .429 win percentage of the Patriots’ 2024 opponents gives them the third-easiest strength of schedule in 2025.
▪ Conversely, the Patriots face the three worst teams from last year (Titans, Browns, Giants), plus five other games against teams that picked in the top 10 in this year’s draft (Raiders, Panthers, Saints, Jets twice). Most of the schedule is pre-determined by the NFL’s rotation, but the Patriots’ last-place finish in 2024 put the Titans, Raiders, and Giants on their schedule.
▪ The Patriots don’t face a daunting QB schedule. The toughest will be Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, and Josh Allen on the road, and Allen at home. But the Patriots play several questionable QBs this year, including Bryce Young, Geno Smith, , Michael Penix, , and Justin Fields.
The Patriots could also face four rookie quarterbacks — the Titans’ Cam Ward, the Giants’ Jaxson Dart, the Saints’ Tyler Shough, and the Browns’ Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders.
2025 schedule just DROPPED 🥚⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8EG9UEQ6M0
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) May 15, 2025
▪ After traveling to the four corners of the globe last year — with long trips to San Francisco, London and Phoenix — the Patriots don’t have to worry about jet lag. They play 15 games in the Eastern time zone, and two in the Central (New Orleans, Tennessee).
▪ The Patriots open and close the season in Foxborough, same as they did in 2023. This also marks the third straight year the Patriots will be home for Week 18. Of course, the Patriots are 3-14 at Gillette Stadium the last two years. But if they are competing for a wild-card spot in Week 18, they surely will appreciate being at home to face the Dolphins.
▪ Of course, the schedule isn’t all roses. The Patriots have a Week 14 bye, marking the fifth year in a row they have had a bye later in the season. It came in Week 14 in 2024, Week 11 in 2023, Week 10 in 2022, and Week 14 in 2021. Their last early bye came in 2020 (Week 5).
▪ The Patriots begin the season with 10 straight weeks without any sort of break, before getting a mini-bye after playing on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 11, then their full bye in Week 14. That’s a long time to go without a break.
▪ The closing stretch after the bye is pretty well loaded — vs. Bills, at Ravens, at Jets, vs. Dolphins. The Patriots will be lucky to finish 2-2.
▪ They also play three straight road games from Weeks 6-8 — at Buffalo, New Orleans, and Tennessee. Vrabel will be fired up for the game in Nashville, but his team may be running on fumes a bit.
▪ The Raiders come to town in Week 1, which could mean a visit from Tom Brady, now a Raiders minority owner. Fox doesn’t have a national game in Week 1, either. The top Fox games that week are Giants-Commanders, Texans-Rams, and Bucs-Falcons. Brady will probably call the Commanders game, but Fox should consider freeing him up to visit Foxborough for the day.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.